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“I was going to ask him if I could get Ex-Lax to work with me.”

Ellis knew that Canidy’s lower gastrointestinal tract was not the subject at hand. It was, instead, Eric Fulmar. “Ex-Lax” had been the code name that “Pharmacist”—Canidy—had assigned him on their last mission, the one in Hungary that almost killed them all.

When Fulmar learned of the code name, he did not find it at all fitting—and sure as hell not humorous—which, of course, only caused Canidy to continue referring to him by it.

Ellis didn’t answer immediately.

Canidy went on: “What do you think the chances are of that?”

“Not good, Major.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“Donovan?”

“No, Ex—” Ellis began, then caught himself. “Fulmar. He’s right here.”

Canidy heard the phone being passed.

Fulmar’s voice came through the phone: “How about cutting out that ‘Ex-Lax’ shit, ol’ buddy?”

“Good morning, Eric. Nice to hear your voice, too. And you don’t have to thank me again for saving your ass.”

The line was quiet a moment, then Fulmar said, “You know I’m grateful. But you’re not going to let me forget, are you?”

“Never. That way, you’ll always come running when I call.”

Fulmar chuckled. “Like now? What’s on your mind? Everything okay?”

“So far. But I’m in New York, up to my neck, and soon quite possibly over my head, and was hoping to maybe get a hand from you.”

“Not possible. Sorry. The boss has me…let’s just call it ‘busy.’”

“Anything I know about?”

“Only if you’ve listened to the radio or read a newspaper lately. It’s hot.”

“You’re the one responsible for the spike in knocked-up teens?”

“Very funny. All I can tell you is that I’ve been up for what seems like hours doing nothing but wading through more bullshit FBI reports. I’ve never read so much that said so little in my life. Except maybe your English essays at St. Paul’s.”

“When do you think you could break free?”

“I can’t, I told you. I have to…Hang on a moment.”

Canidy guessed that Fulmar had moved the receiver away from his head, because he could faintly hear Fulmar asking Ellis something and Ellis grunting a reply. Then he could hear Fulmar more clearly.

“Where are you?” Fulmar asked Canidy.

“New York.”

“No, where are you staying?”

“Gramercy.”

“Nice.”